Beneath His Feet
by LadyStarblade
Summary: "It didn't feel right when he didn't have a deck beneath his feet." Travis-centered fic.


Title: Beneath His Feet  
Author: Lady Starblade -- ladystarblade@hotmail.com  
Rating: PG  
Fandom: Enterprise  
Spoilers: very minor for "Cold Front"  
Category: General  
Disclaimer: Oh, how I would love to own them all, but alas, I do not. Paramount owns all, and I make no money whatsoever.  
  
Author's Note: Poor Travis sometimes gets lost in the shuffle (although his solo apology in "Vox Sola" was priceless!), so I decided to write a fic for him. Plus, Anthony Montgomery and I share a hometown. Indyphiles unite!!  
  
Summary: "It didn't feel right when he didn't have a deck beneath his feet."  
  
**  
  
Travis Mayweather stood in the center of his cramped cabin, hands clasped lightly behind him and his eyes closed. Sometimes, if he stood still enough and concentrated enough, he could feel the ship's humming travel through him. It was much subtler than the thrumming of his parent's ship, the Horizon. From time to time on the Horizon, even the wall bulkheads would vibrate so hard one could see them move. Travis could only imagine how badly rattled Hoshi Sato would've been. Her sensitive ears could pick up Enterprise's vibrations; the Horizon's shaking probably would have deafened her. Hoshi hadn't liked space travel much at first.  
  
But Travis couldn't imagine living planetside. Living in the same place, year after year after year? He repressed a small shudder at the thought. He was a boomer, born and raised in deep space. The vast emptiness held no fear for him. In fact, he had always wanted to go farther and deeper into it than the Horizon's transport routes would go. Travis could remember begging his father to take side trips all the time....  
  
*The planet's right there, Dad, can't we go look?*  
  
*Just a day! Just one day to look at the nebula?*  
  
*But I've already seeeeen Dralax Nine!*  
  
Most of the time, his answer would be just a shake of the head. *Not now, Trav. We've got a schedule to stick to.* But now, several years later, Travis suspected that most of those times they had gotten "lost" had nothing to do with losing direction. He smiled to himself. His father had more explorer in him than he would admit.  
  
Travis had assumed a lot of things as a kid; he had been ten before his mind wrapped itself around the concept that people, indeed most people, were planetbound. That was more alien to him than lifeforms with extra legs or lumpy foreheads. It just felt wrong when the surface under him didn't move. It didn't feel right when he didn't have a deck beneath his feet. He would never be happy when he wasn't sailing the stars.  
  
Letting his mind wander, Travis remembered back to his third day on Enterprise.  
  
**  
  
"You have more time in space than any of us, Ensign. Probably more than the entire crew combined," Captain Jonathan Archer said as he leaned against the table in his ready room.  
  
"I wouldn't go quite that far, Captain," Travis replied.  
  
Archer lifted a finger. "Don't be so sure. We're heading out with a ship full of greenhorns. Bright, determined, and brave greenhorns, but greenhorns nonetheless. I'm going to be relying on you quite a bit."  
  
"I won't let you down, sir." Travis was determined to help the Enterprise and her captain in every way he could.  
  
"Just bear with us baby spacefarers for a while, okay?" Archer asked with a smile.  
  
Travis grinned back. "Yes sir!"  
  
**  
  
And the enthusiasm Travis had that day was still with him. There were times when he could feel the excitement bubble up inside of him, when the enormity of their mission came crashing on him, and he knew he had made the right decision in coming to Starfleet. Perhaps someday, he would even earn a command of his own. His own starship. The thought made him suck in a breath and square his shoulders. The way he had felt when he sat in the captain's chair at Hoshi's urging....that feeling had stayed with him, even after Malcolm Reed had caught him in the act. But the small smile on the armory officer's face told Travis that he understood.  
  
Spacing was in Travis's blood, a part of him he wouldn't trade for all the flame gems on Aldeberan. Now, he was determined to savor every light-year of this journey, with this ship, this captain, and this crew. As if his thoughts had summoned it, the door chime sounded. Travis twitched slightly, then called, "Come" over his shoulder.  
  
The door slid aside, and he heard the thick drawl of Commander Trip Tucker ring out. "Hey Travis, when ya get done meditatin' in here, ya can come with us to the movie."  
  
Travis opened his eyes and looked at the blond engineer. Trip was dressed in one of the loudest shirts he had ever seen. Over Trip's left shoulder, Travis could see the darker head of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. "We've been waiting for this all week. We don't want to be late."  
  
"Aw," Trip responded, "they wouldn't dare start without us."  
  
Travis smiled as he walked toward the open door. "We'd better hurry. We don't want to miss the first part of 'Night of the Killer Androids II.'"  
  
Malcolm rolled his eyes. "I cannot believe they actually made another of those movies, populated with the most tactically inept characters I have ever seen. Do they expect us to believe that three humans with one blaster can take on an entire army of androids and survive?"  
  
Trip stared at Malcolm with a look Travis could only describe as wonderment. "Malcolm, repeat to yourself," Trip said, drawing out every word slowly, "it's just a movie. It's just a movie."  
  
Malcolm shot back with "I am quite aware of that. I was merely pointing out..."  
  
Travis and Trip simultaneously burst into laughter. "All right," Travis said, "let's go. Hoshi meeting us there?"  
  
"Yes," Malcolm nodded. "She said she would save us seats."  
  
"Yeah, hope we're close enough to throw popcorn at the screen." Trip grinned.  
  
They exited Travis's quarters and headed down the corridor toward the mess hall. *Yes,* Travis said to himself, *all you need is a tall ship, a star to steer her by, and a fine crew to share the journey.*  
  
The three men walked on, Enterprise humming beneath their feet.  
  
END 


End file.
